Pages

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

September

Hello. I’m experimenting with how I do these round-ups
because I fucking hate trying to put the fucking pictures in and every single
month it makes me want to smash my computer up. So, this month you’re not
getting many pictures. You can have one picture of the best book that I read
this month. Here it is:

And here are some words about the other books that I read in September.

Pack Men by Alan
Bissett

A bunch of men (and one woman) go on a trip to watch their
beloved Rangers play an important game of a little known sport called
‘football’. One of the men who is narrating what’s going on has lots of stuff
inside his brain. He’s not a football hooligan, he’s a literary person. He has
lots of secrets. I like him.

Full review to follow.

Under Travelling
Skies by Saul Hughes

A story set in Wales about a Welsh family. Poetically
recalling the various shit that has happened to them. Will make you want to
drink a pint and read some poetry. Lovely descriptions.

A story of different families with varying levels of
interest in one another’s lives. Written by my favourite women’s fiction author
Nicola May, it is a story that shows that stuff doesn’t always go how you want
it to, but it’s alright.

A bloke diddles a competition in order to win a massive
literary prize. He gets found out and fucks everything up. A story about a life
of lies and lacking contentment, this one suckered me in and I loved it. The
jokes are shit though.

Full review to follow.

Pocket Notebook
by Mike Thomas

A story of the life of a policeman who has some quite severe
issues with basically everything around him. As the book goes on his pocket
notebook becomes less like a professional tool and more of a diary to store his
innermost rages.

Full review to follow.

Frisky Business
by Clodagh Murphy

A woman has a drunken, masked shag with a bloke at a party
and we join her a year later while she is bringing up her kid as a single Mum.
Another women’s fiction book, this one had lots of lovely little plot lines
aside from the big ‘who’s the Daddy’ one.

Full review to follow.

English Slacker
by Chris Morton

A teenage boy is our narrator as we join him in his life of
smoking fags, drinking, looking at girls and getting stoned in between working
at the local supermarket.

Can’t decide how I feel about this one. I like that it’s
written as a kind of stream of consciousness, but I wasn’t sure that the end
was the big punch in the face of bringing shit together that I was expecting.
If you’ve read it, please talk to me about it.

Full review to follow.

The Tattooist by
Louise Black

The best book I’ve read this month by a long shot. A creepy
tattooist guy in Paris accosts young women and has his weird and frighteningly
measured and controlling way with them. This book made me feel horny and
disgusted in equal measures. Highly recommended.

Full review to follow.

The Casual Vacancy
by J.K. Rowling

I have no idea why J.K. Rowling has gotten so much shit and
criticism for this book. It’s a fucking good book. To be fair, it does take
fucking ages to get going, but once you’re past that initial (150 pages ish)
worth of stuff at the beginning then the rest is fantastic. It made me feel
feelings that books don’t often make me feel. Like it made me feel fucking sick
and fucking distraught (it’s pretty bleak), it made me want to punch a few
people in the face, and it also made me want to high five a few of the
characters who had fucking massive balls.

One of the things that I know has been criticised is the
swearing. Well, love, there is a fair few fucks flying around but it is not
gratuitous. There are about 8 cunts within the whole book, all said by one
character who is calling someone a cunt, not shouting it in the fucking street,
and that is over a total of five hundred pages. There are far more cunt-heavy,
smaller books flying around all over the fucking place that no one is moaning
about. Leave JK alone, she’s done good.

You’re not having a full review for this one because it’s
not on my review list. If the fuckers at Little, Brown sent me a copy then
maybe there would be. But they didn’t. The cunts.

I'm going to pop a little picture of the cover here because I want to.

Books read: 9

I’m having another review-only reading month in October,
which is quite exciting. If you want a book reviewing then now is the time to
get in touch.

My friend is texting me now, she’s in one of those dirty sex
clinics so I must dash.